Kendall Scudder elected to head Texas Dems

The formerly appointed party jefe got elected to a full term at the Texas Dems state convention, as noted by the Trib. In the face of opposition, unsurprising since I wrote in April about a letter from select staffers wanting him gone, but, "eventually." That, in turn, followed him cheesing off many staffers last fall with the decision to move state HQ out of Austin.

Details:

The party’s delegates overwhelmingly chose Scudder to continue on as chair over former TDP staffers Monique Alcala and Marco Orrantia, ending a bitter race centered on how the party should be organized and whether it was building enough infrastructure to capitalize on this cycle’s political tailwinds and lay the groundwork for long-term Democratic gains.

Sad part from the Trib story is that, while it talks about Scudder getting a landslide from the rank and file, actual vote numbers aren't reported. Of course, that's because the TDP ain't reporting them yet.

It should be noted that on the ballot to an interim term a year ago March, he took just 65 of 121 votes. OTOH, that was in the first round of a seven-person race.

Growing number of Texas Dems want Kendall Scudder gone — eventually

I laughed, and cringed a bit as well, when the Texas Democratic Party executive committee elected ConservaDem Kendall Scudder as party chairman a year ago.

After that, I mocked the Texas Observer for uncritically fellating him,  an issue made worse by editor-in-chief Gus Bova personally doing the fellatio.

I laughed more, while doing the critical thinking Bova didn't, when Kendall pissed off a fair amount of TDP leadership and rank and file with his mockable plans to move the party headquarters out of Austin. I'll add now that this smacks of something like Trump's plans for Interior. 

Now? Per the Trib, we're at the point of the header. Three dozen state Dems want him to not run for re-election.  

The letter, signed by a substantial contingent of party insiders, reflects a persistent level of discontent among Texas Democrats after changes made by Scudder, including decentralizing the party’s base from Austin and overhauling staff positions, threw the party into a state of upheaval last fall.

That said, party insiders, such as Executive Director Terri Burk and finance head Vlator Smith, have pushed back hard. And, per the dissidents, even if he didn't run again, you're stuck with him for the almost three years remaining on his current term. Have fun.

Also have to love Kuff taking a full pass on this. (A week later, he still has.)

Democrap Congresscritters kiss Henry Cuellar's ass

That's the really bitchful part of the story about Trump pardoning the Valley Congresscritter in the middle of a federal case, after he'd been indicted for bribery and faced trial this coming spring:

Cuellar also on Wednesday filed for reelection as a Democrat, quieting speculation that he planned to switch parties. On the House floor Wednesday afternoon, numerous Democratic colleagues greeted Cuellar warmly, hugging him and shaking his hand.

Yeah, Democrats were so worried that this one congressional seat, if it flipped, would block taking over the House that they kissed the ass of an unconvicted man who's still a felony indictee.

Add this from the House's head Democrap (and head Democrap genocide enabler):

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN he agreed with the president’s pardon, even if he didn’t understand his motivation. “The reality is this indictment was very thin to begin with,” Jeffries said. “I don’t know why the president decided to do this. I think the outcome was exactly the right outcome.” Jeffries will be a special guest at an upcoming virtual fundraiser Cuellar is hosting, according to a source familiar with the event.

Really? If the case is so thin, then why did two Cuellar political advisors already cop pleas? 

That said, why did Trump pardon him? Isn't he doing so well among Hispanics that he thinks the GOP could win Cuellar's seat? 

That's per this:

This cycle, he is facing a serious Republican opponent — Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, a former Democrat, who announced his candidacy Tuesday and noted that Cuellar was facing “serious federal corruption accusations that have shaken the trust of the people he is supposed to serve,” in a statement announcing his candidacy.

Once again, it's all transactional. Cuellar will probably name one of his in-district office locations after Trump. 

Kendall Scudder's new faux pas with Texas Democrats

The Trib reports on how he's moving state party headquarters from Austin to Dallas, and pissing off party rank and file staffers who are resigning, and possibly rank and file leadership mad they weren't consulted.

Every member of the party’s top staff, including the executive director, chief of staff and two communications staffers, is departing after Scudder required them to agree to move to Dallas by November — or else be laid off. A fifth top staffer has already quit, and more departures among the seven other staffers are expected.

The Trib details the action and leadership vote:

The State Democratic Executive Committee, the party’s governing board, voted on Sept. 13 to close the party’s Austin headquarters and move the party’s central hub to Dallas, while maintaining an office in Austin and opening new outposts in Amarillo, Eagle Pass and Houston.

Then Scudder's BS.

“We are building a grassroots army of working-class Texans in every corner of this state, ceding no territory and standing firm in our convictions to do things differently to win elections,” Scudder said in a news release announcing the new offices.

Note for Kendall and party both. You could have kept HQ in Austin (the state capital) and opened an extension office in Dallas, along with the ones in Eagle Pass and Houston.  

I name both Scudder and state Dem leaders, but the ex comm wouldn't have voted for this without a push or four from Scudder. Confirmed:

Scudder pushed forward with the relocation even after the party’s executive director and chief of staff warned him that the move would result in a cascade of staff departures, said one person familiar with the discussions, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the deliberations.

There you are, a mini-me tyrant. 

Per the state capital angle, this:

Members of the Democratic National Committee and Democrat-aligned political groups in Texas also expressed reservations about the move to Scudder, according to five people familiar with the discussions. They feared that relocating to Dallas would wipe out staff infrastructure, and that the resulting upheaval would fray national Democratic sentiment toward the state party going into the 2026 elections. ... 

Upon hearing of the move, DNC Chair Ken Martin expressed concern about the plan and what it would mean for staff, according to a Texas DNC member who spoke to Martin about the matter two weeks ago. That member also spoke with DNC Vice Chair Shasti Conrad and Executive Director Roger Lau, who similarly expressed concern and confusion.

Backs up my note above. 

And, given Democrats are supposed to be the party of unions, this:

Four minutes before the SDEC’s Sept. 13 meeting, a representative from the party employees’ union proposed a set of worker protections related to the move, including granting staff members the right to refuse to relocate without being fired. 

The SDEC is not typically involved in labor negotiations and did not take up the measures. But Scudder was angry and felt ambushed by the proposals, according to three people who were in the room. In a Sept. 16 letter sent through a lawyer, Scudder and other management-level representatives called the union’s move a “serious breach of its duty to bargain in good faith,” and demanded the union retract its proposals.

Don't look good. 

Will all this lead the Observer to stop fellating him, as I called them out for two weeks ago? Probably not.

For me, knowing his background, it's not a real surprise. 

"Interesting" that Kuff has nothing. 

I predict Texas Democrats will regret making him their choice to replace Gilberto Hinojosa, but it will take a while to hit that point. 

The Observer fellates Kendall Scudder

And the fellating comes from editor-in-chief Gus Bova himself. Gack.

Bova lets Scudder proclaim himself as a "pergressuve" when he's really not, and in any case, the word has become almost as vacuous as "librul," as the Congressional Pergressuve Cucks have repeatedly demonstrated. 

The interview is vacuous, with Scudder, after correctly stating he will address nuts-and-bolts organizational issues for rural Tex-ass Democraps as new state party chair (I wrote about his election at the time), otherwise going for a lowest common denominator version of what being a Tex-ass Democrap will be.

As a ConservaDem of many years standing himself (other than identitarian politics derived from family of origin history), Scudder certainly exemplifies that. 

Greg Casar becomes more self-delusional

Casar, just in his second term in Congress, and current head of the Pergressuve Cucks, what I call the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and with good reason, is increasing his levels of self-delusion.

First, heading this org isn't a desired gig. Indeed, per this piece, Casar was unopposed last year; the previous head was term-limited.

That said, per my top link, progressive he is not:

He would rather build coalitions than pass ideological purity tests that have pushed voters away from the left. He espouses a more working class message, steering away from the culture wars and back to economic concerns that dominated voters’ minds this year.

Business as usual. Oh, sure, in various places in various stories, he condemns the Joe Manchins of the world, but says it wasn't that Yachtsman Joe wasn't too liberal or too conservative, but that they didn't offer enough progress. It's statements like this that lead me to use the word "pergressuve."

Or, in other words, contra the likes of Radley Balko, he believe the bullshit about "woke."

The self-delusion has now gotten worse, though.

Per the Monthly, he thinks Tex-ass is "up for grabs."

Dayum. Even though state Dems made Gilberto Hinojosa walk the plank, his "victory is just around the corner" spirit is alive and well. Contra the core of the piece, once California started going hard "blue," it was abetted by people from the OC and San Jose and Inland Empire Californicating Tex-ass (and Aridzona). Texas isn't up for grabs for, oh, at least a decade?

Texas Dems and 2026 elections: first thoughts

Chris Hooks at the Monthly discusses how (soon) the walkout will end and other details. (He's partially wrong about Joe Manchin in 2021: Sen. Yachtsman backed re-instating "preclearance," but only if done nationally, and I agreed at the time.) And, otherwise riffing on him? Ending the quorum break early starts legal challenges early. And if, between this and Trump unpopularity (Kerrville will be a great 2026 campaign issue) if Dems can't win diluted districts, then they might as well admit Texas is actually Alabama.

Seriously. They booted, finally, Gilberto Hinojosa from the deck and wheel of the SS Texas Democrats Minnow. Will it be enough? Gene Wu's first term as House minority leader didn't impress, and can you even name the state Senate minority leader (or majority leader) off the top of your head? I can't.

 Beyond that, Hooks knows that polls pitting a named Rethuglican against a nameless generic Democrap (or vice versa) are next to worthless.

Texas Dems elect ConservaDem Kendall Scudder as state party chairman

So, Texas Democrats have gone from finally getting Gilberto Hinojosa to walk the plank from the water-treading SS Texas Democrats Minnow to this, Scudder getting elected in a highly contested race? (Interesting the TDP uses instant-runoff voting; now, along with stopping your effort to keep Greens off the ballot, maybe support it in state races?)

ConservaDem Kendall Scudder is, and I first met him seven or eight years ago. Riding Beto Bob's coattails then promoting Matthew McConaughey to run for gov is proof of that. More proof? In 2022, Kendall, in the DMN interviewing him for his state senate primary, said both parties had moved too far from the center.

As for his plans?

He wants the party to pay attention to areas he says it has previously written off, like rural communities, and put a priority on Spanish-language communications.

Wrote off rural Democrats? Did you forget about Beto, or Beat-0, in Muleshoe, which also involved his being a general PanderBear?

The reality is that rural Democrats, as in county-level political organizations, have long written themselves off. Those that aren't totally moribund welcomed Beto in Muleshoe for a bit of recognition in turn for a bit of his low-level grifting. That's in counties that even have a county level organization. Many don't, and the state party admits this.

And, Scudder, you served on the state party executive committee. You know this.

One other thing on Scudder, per my ConservaDem link? He bragged on his podcast about having a concealed carry permit, even with living in the Metromess. And yes, I saw it as bragging.

That, in turn, ties back to my post Friday: "With Texas Democrats, who needs Texas Republicans," as one part of that was about a majority of Senate Dems voting to get even tougher on the death penalty. In the DMN interview, Scudder wasn't asked about the death penalty. However, one of the other four candidates in that same state Senate race, Charles Gearing, twice volunteered his opposition to the death penalty, under the same question, about criminal justice reform. Maybe the fact that one of Scudder's three (step)-parents worked for either a county jail or TDCJ, as a correctional officer, per his website campaigning to replace Hinojosa, indicates he might tilt toward frying people, even if that was the dad his mom divorced. This would probably tie to his concealed carry permit, too. As would his being a "volunteer in patrol" with the Dallas PD. A more righty junior Jim Schutze? Gack.

I've done plenty of teh Google and can't find his stance. In addition to all of the above, IMO, if he actually opposed the death penalty he would have volunteered that info somewhere. 

I also don't know his position on Zionism and Palestine.

One-third trollingly, two-thirds seriously, I rhetorically asked about this on Shitter Monday night. Non-rhetorically, I asked Texas Progressive Caucus on Hucksterman, and Texas Democrats on Shitter. The purpose there is to see if THEY know, more than to get the answers themselves, since I already indicated I think I know what they are.

And, 24 hours later, neither has answered me.

So, contra Michelle Davis at Lone Star Left, in my world, Kendall Scudder is NOT a "pergressuve." Well, he surely is on LGBTQAI (If we're doing alphabet soup, I'm adding "Incel") issues, but not likely other than that. 

But, Jim Hightower supported him, because he has know-how and can raise bucks. Careful, Jim, or you'll find yourself in the neighborhood of yellow stripes and dead armadillos.

I mean, sexual orientation issues and abortion are important. So is combating US imperialism (Russia-Ukraine and NATO) and Israeli imperialism. So is real action, not fake action, on climate change. (Remember, in 2022, Beto-Bob discovered the religion of "drill, baby, drill.")

Scudder DOES know about running for office. Huntsville city council, multiple times. State Senate. The new elected member slot on Dallas County Appraisal District. Now this, and I'm probably missing something. In short, he's a permacandidate. Will he use the party chairmanship to run for office again at some point?

Gilberto Hinojosa walks the plank of the Texas Democrats' SS Minnow

At least for public consumption, nobody had to push the long-time executive director of the Texas Democratic Party's SS Minnow overboard; he did it on his own. As the Trib notes, the stupidity of saying Texas would break for Harris, combined with the Democratic ineptitude plus GOP inroads on the Hispanic vote being so bad that Trump won a majority of Texas Hispanics, made his position untenable. And yes, Trump ran ahead of Havana Ted Cruz, took 55 percent of Texas Hispanics (that's the term Hispanics nationally prefer, well ahead of "Latino" and WAY ahead of the laughed-at and despised "Latinx") and took 14 of 18 border counties.

His biggest failure? It's directly tied to that one failure above, and it's that Hinojosa has peddled that old "demographics is destiny" for Texas Democrats for more than a decade, as did Battleground Texas, Markos Moulitsas himself of Daily Kos and various other #BlueAnon idiots. I called bullshit back in 2013, and updated as needed. But, many Texas Dems, the type like Charles Kuffner and many who follow him at Off the Kuff, kept drinking and even peddling that Kool-Aid.

He finally faced a leadership challenge back in 2022. Sadly for the party, not only did he win, but looking ahead, both the challengers were ConservaDems of the type that make Greg Summerlin types salivate. Kim Olson, who finished No. 2, did the typical nice, polite Dem thing and didn't challenge him and fight him publicly, even as she was being anonymously shivved over an old assault allegation. No wonder he won, holding on like a South Texas jefe.

Elsewhere, the Trib looks more at this year's Texas Democrats' failures. Overall, I suspect that Texas Democrats are about as ready to learn the real lessens that are available for the learning as are national Democrats.

At the Observer, Gus Bova talks about "a lost decade"when it's actually been two now, and never mentions Hinojosa's name. True, it was a day before his resignation, but he's still the guy at fault,

Life after Beto, er, Beat-0, for Texas Dems

At the Observer, Justin Miller looks at the options on statewide candidates now that Beat-0 is toast. 

And, I look at his looking.

Congresscritter Joaquin Castro? Not gonna do it if he thinks Democrats can regain the U.S. House in 2024 elections. Possibility of moving up the career ladder, and maybe looking beyond that. Colin Allred? Possibly. Might be enough of a ConservaDem to satisfy Greg Summerlin. Lizzie Fletcher also an urban ConservaDem. Veronica Escobar is from El Paso, and less known than Beat-0 had made himself known.

Lina Hidalgo? Not in 2024; the COVID contracts issue with her staffers is probably, even if cleared up 100 percent in her favor, still going to be too close in time. That means a third run for county judge in 2026.

Christian Menafee? Interesting, but still low profile.

Clay Jenkins? Miller only name-checks him. He'd certainly look at Allred's seat if Allred decide to run for a statewide office. I could see him taking his own flyer against Havana Ted in 2024.

Not so fast on those non-voters, Texas Dems

Ben Rowan has a great, long piece on how Texas Democrats' assumptions that non-voters are quiet hard tilters to Democrats simply isn't so true.

First of all, this reminds me of parallel claims by DSA Roseys, Greens or Socialists that many Americans really support our ideas. No, they don't. People either don't vote entirely, or undervote a majority of individual races, while still staying registered to vote (the low-hanging fruit on non-voters) for a variety of reasons. That's just as true of the higher fruit, the unregistered.

Rowan first notes that Dems' new registration efforts in 2020 actually wound up handing net new voters to the GOP. Oops. He then notes Dems still haven't won a statewide race since 1994. So, that led him to do actual research.

First, the data. Nationally, they're young (which in general have low turnout), more likely to be non-White, and more likely to be lower education. Sounds Democrat, right?

Not to me. Sounds more like political "Nones," as Rowan indicates. There's just not a lot that either party offers to incentivize them.

Others are apparent victims of vote suppression, when talking about not wanting to wait in line or otherwise waste time voting. Err, there's this thing called early voting? That gets back to education does it not?

Plus, as Rowan notes, Texas is more conservative than the nation as a whole.

But, Texas Democratic Party staffers, who, per Mencken, are paid to be wrong, will probably continue to assume there's magic ponies in that pile of straw of non-voters. It ties in with their assumptions, nearly two decades old now, that "demographics is destiny." I've shown just how untrue this is. This was confirmed, in other ways, just last year.

One final note, which puts a further mockery to my already mocking Beto-Bob for going to Muleshoe. Bowen notes that in 55 counties, let's spell it out as FIFTY-FIVE COUNTIES, there is NO county Democratic party chair. In other worse, nobody to do a voter registration drive to build on whatever enthusiasm O'Rourke built up. But wait, it gets worse:

Texas Monthly reached out to the chairs of the other 199 counties in Texas, and heard from fewer than forty who are leading door-to-door canvassing efforts this election cycle.

I'm sure my county is NOT in the "fewer than 40."

Uvalde tensions transect race and creed

Tensions, not just over the Robb Elementary shooting, but fanned yet further by it, are splitting Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde, whose own history reflects Anglo-Hispanic tensions and others. A big portion of it, the piece notes, is a wingnut Anglo deacon. (For the unfamiliar, at diocesan level action, parish priests are rotated every four-five years. However, deacons, who are lay leaders and consecrated but not ordained, generally come from the local populace and hence aren't going anywhere.) BUT? The current priest, per the story, is himself also a Uvalde native — and Hispanic. And, that said, the tensions are not all Anglo-Hispanic. A Hispanic deacon, while not a wingnut, apparently thinks Hispanic activists in the parish need to stand down. And, the author said "Father Eddy" has indicated the same. Both have preached to that end. 

I first thought that part of the problem might be that the church functions as a de facto community center as well. Wrong! Per City-Data, there's at least nine non-Catholic churches there. (Interesting, there's a Spanish Protestant church, but it's Methodist, not Baptist or Pentecostal. Weirdly, Sacred Heart's school is listed but the parish is not.) And, although the church has four Sunday masses, by per-grade attendance, its parochial school is not that much bigger than Sacred Heart-Muenster. AND, the Episcopalians (interesting them, not Baptists, on a place like Uvalde) have a K-2 parochial school, too.

More background, assuming City-Data is half right? The county as a whole, of which Uvalde is about 60 percent, broke 60 percent Trump in 2020. That's while being 75 percent Hispanic. So, Fr. Eduardo Morales and the unnamed deacon aren't alone among Hispanics in their political sensibilities or even close. That said, this is nothing new. Uvalde County, like Anglo places with "Blue Dog" Dems, first shifted Republican at the presidential level in 1996 and hasn't looked back since.

So, Michael Luis Ortiz shouldn't be so disappointed. His expectations should have been lower all along. I mean, I blogged a full decade ago about how Texas Democrats should stop assuming demographics is destiny. And, a year ago, I said similar to national Dems on youth demographics.

Hinojosa remains captain of SS Texas Democrats

I would say that the Texas Democratic Party decided to stay with the captain of a sinking ship, but Gilberto Hinojosa never did raise the SS Texas Democrats from the bottom of the Gulf in the past decade and probably won't in the future. So, he's still at the helm. Not that Kim Olson would have been a lot better. The fact that that Olson refused to criticize him during her challenge says something right there.

I blogged about the race, and "somebody" resurrecting a 4-year-old assault claim against Olson, in April. As for the third candidate, Carroll G. Robinson, knocked out after the first round? I had little truck for him, as also noted in that piece.

As a non-duopolist, it's no huge skin off my back, but Hinojosa's apparently belief that demographics is destiny and thus that, like Herbert Hoover, victory is just around the corner, hasn't spoken much for him. I've called that out for nearly a decade. But, when your options are a pretentious lawyer whose support may not be deep past a few but not all Black Democrats, and a ConservaDem career military officer with missteps, your bench for running the party is no deeper than your bench for statewide Democrats.

And, I've never seen an explanation on why Hinojosa bailed on a state appeals court position to run for county judge. Did he see the GOP wave and know that either the Court of Criminal Appeals or state Supremes was out of reach?

Bon voyage!

Texas Dems' leadership battle: Who you got? And does it matter?

Since I'm not a Dem, I hadn't paid attention to the fact that Gilberto Hinojosa has a bona fide opponent to lead the Texas Democratic Party. 

Hinojosa, who has been touting the mantra of "Demographics mean Texas Democrat ascendancy is just around the corner" for at least twice as long as Herbert Hoover's Depression and prosperity claims, is being challenged by Kim Olson as the main challenger.

And, per the Trib, it's getting ugly, with resurrections of a nearly 4-year-old assault claim against Olson complete with calls for her to drop out of the race.

To me, it's a sign Hinojosa is running scared. As he probably should be, given his track record of lack of success.

As for "does it matter"? They're both pretty much ConservaDems, and, while I've bitched about Hinojosa, Olson had at least one unforced error in her 2018 Ag Commish run against Jeebus Shot Sid Miller. And, for ConservaDems who like to run the military up the flagpole and salute it, remember that her career didn't end so perfectly. The real issue behind that, is as a career military officer, what does she think of the "Forever War"? What does she think of its erosion of civil liberties? Could be worse in some ways for Texas Dems, I suppose. Former Libertarian voter MJ Hegar could be in the running. And, at least Hinojosa has a needed real challenger.

Carroll G. Robinson? First, I dislike lawyers who put the pretentious "Esq." after their names. He doesn't do that everywhere, but he does on occasion. Second, like Beto Bob, he's a RuralDem. That's even as rural Texas, truly rural Texas versus exurban Texas, continues to shrink, especially in West Texas. He is right that local Dems in smaller "red" counties need to revive their activism.

Anyway, the fact that Hinojosa is running so scared against such a flawed character illustrates what a free ride he's had for so long. That, in turn, illustrates that the problems with the Texas Democratic Party go beyond just candidate recruitment.

Texas CD 26: Answer me this, Democrats

How can you have NObody running in your primary for the 26th Congressional District?

Sure, redistricting made it more reddish, but not wingnut, not totally. Yes, the city of Denton itself is no longer in the district, but the rest of Denton County is. The county as a whole had a less than 10-point gap in the 2020 presidential election. And, incumbent Michael Burgess took a flat 60 percent against a credible opponent in 2020.

Plus, he has the odious stain (in addition to being a Tea Partier and now a MAGAt) of voting not to certify the 2020 presidential election.

Shit, even Ronny Jackson has a Democratic opponent.

Texas Progressives get ready for redistricting

The Lege (as we await the fate of a lawsuit that claims redistrictings can be done only in regular sessions, per the Texas Constitution so beloved of wingnuts) has dropped its first Texas Senate redistricting map. The Trib has the backstory. As others have noted, "cracking and packing" along with "splitting and diluting" in the Metromess and elsewhere. Beverly Powell targeted in an attempt to "whiten" District 10 after she narrowly beat wingnut Konni Burton. That's the dilute and split. Nathan Johnson's Dist. 16 is cracked and packed, in part to benefit the GOP in District 10 and 12. Taking white suburbs out of Dist. 16 is done primarily to benefit whatever GOP wins the primary to succeed Jane "I Lied about Term Limits (and many other things)" Nelson in Dist. 12. Look back at her last two races, esp. the last one. I wrote a blog post about this, this summer, noting that Dist. 10, Dist. 12, Kelly Hancock's Dist. 9 and, if possible but a distant fourth, Angela Paxton's Dist. 8 would all be targets of redistricting help. She's getting some help by being moved more into exurban areas, with rejiggering to the east of nutbar Bob Hall's Dist. 2 and other things. Springer's Dist. 30 is "safe," so the GOP can borrow from it as needed. I had mainly been focused on "borrowing" from Springer's seat; hadn't thought about borrowing from Bob Hall's.

Off the Kuff looks at 2020 Congressional results as we wait for further redistricting maps.

Texas Dems may have some slim chance that they are right that the Lege can only redistrict in a regular session, but they're almost certainly wrong. They're definitely wrong that the courts are the next alternative; it's the Legislative Redistricting Board. See more here. That second link also says that Texas Dems may not be right about the "only in a regular session" claim. Also, Kenny Boy is right that such suit should go through state courts first. (Sigh; when Texas Dems continue to be dumber than Ken Paxton ...)

 

Katya Ehresman shows people how to get involved in the redistricting fight.

Status Quo Joe ain't leaving Afghanistan and Liz Cheney ain't leaving the GOP

I hived this off from what was originally going to be the weekly Texas Progressives Roundup after there were no regular contributors of national news.

And, since Lizzie Cheney, after her 40 whacks with her axe failed to kill the head of Donald Trump, is now officially voted out as head of the House Republican Conference, it's good to separate it.

And, since I had originally written it in this order, am not a member of the duopoly at national political level and pretty much loathe BlueMAGA aka BlueAnon, it will stay in this order and you'll have to see new lying by Status Quo Joe Biden first.

Biden and Afghanistan

Since most of BlueMAGA doesn't regularly read Counterpunch, you can thank your stars that this member of the Texas Progressives Alliance does. And, that's the source of the header.

Turns out, per Noam Chomsky, that those 2,500 US troops Biden says he'll withdraw aren't all of them that Merika has there. There's an extra 1,000 floating around. Plus 16,000 contractors mercenaries. What happens when one of those 1,000 get killed? Are they flypaper? Or, what if actual left-of-center Congresscritters confront Status Quo Joe about those 1K and he removes them? And then, one of Erik Prince's Blackwater Xe Academi mercenaries gets killed? Flypaper?

Per Noam, human rights, if they're women's rights, will be abandoned, as will other things.

That said, Chomsky has long been a duopoly-fellating, anti-Green good Democrat, so he doesn't have a lot of room to talk.

More national-global? Status Quo Joe still hadn't abandoned Article 42, and other recent actions of his in re Ill Eagles are head fakes, gaslighting or whatever other term you prefer.

China's greenhouse gas emissions are more than the rest of the developed world combined. That said, Merika, remember that we exported a lot of that, along with other pollution.

Elizabeth Cheney and today's GOP

Although Cheney lost the vote battle, for her,  going back a full year or more, it's a battle for the future of the GOP. With her being booted, as that link makes clear, the battle's not over for her. She's still a neocon warmonger, so don't normalize her or any other Never Trumper. Within the House GOP, there's the added issue that she is not doing much in the way of fundraising for Ever Trumpers. And, more and more, Huckleberry J. Butchmeup, aka Lindsey Graham, as well as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, is willing to fellate Trumpism. Don't laugh, #BlueMAGA; most of you will fellate neoliberalism, and speaking of neocons, fellate Bibi as well.

On Cheney's side, though, she sees fellating Trump as hurting the GOP in swing districts, and says McCarthy, the RNCC and RNC have suppressed or ignored polling that supports this fact.

Adding to this? Trump seems to be taking this personally. Adding to that, some claim that it's part of a larger blood feud against GOP dynasty families.

Does Cheney regret taking a pass on the Senate, not once, but twice?

 

==

 

Now, per the top of the page, looking at the vote?

 

First, there's plenty of cowards in the House GOP. Despite requests by Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the GOP caucus conducted a voice vote, not a roll call, and won't make it public.

 

Second, beyond the post talking about Trump yakking more, and starting his new blog and RSS feed (which it didn't mention) since Feb. 3, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has become even more a squish.

 

Third, as for Dems, as well as some Never Trumper Republicans, saying, this could be dangerous vis a vis losing youth, minorities, etc.? Demographic ain't destiny. Gilberto Hinojosa and his Texas Dem honchos have been claiming a demographic-based blue tide has been coming for 15 years or more. They remain wrong, even as they have misanalyzed those demographics. 

Third, part 2? Nothing will happen to the national GOP until Trump croaks. (His sons and sons-in-law are incompetent even by his standards and won't be able to pick up his flag. Ivanka doesn't want it.)

Fourth, no, Never Trumpers are not leaving the GOP. David Jolly and Jeff Greenfield both pick this one apart. (That said, Jolly ignores that most independents are really Rethugs or Doinks in drag trying to pretend to be what they're not.) Greenfield says we've heard this all before, and notes that many of the Never Trumpers are nonetheless vote-suppressors, etc.

Texas Progressives: Status Quo Joe is officially large and in charge

The Lege has started, it faces a budget shortfall that Comptroller Glenn Hegar is surely turd-polishing, and we await seeing just how wingnut it will be this year.

Meanwhile, Texas Democrats are again overpromising. And, somebody besides me is telling them to stop it.

Finally, Texas Monthly must have had a really slow month because it's got not just one, but two, pieces of bullshit in its February issue.

Meanwhile, yes, it's Jan. 20 and Trump is gone, but Trumpism isn't; Joe Biden is here, and Democrat neoliberalism is back.

Let's dig into this week's Roundup.

Texas

The Texas Observer offers its analysis of the new Lege session, and reminds anybody with a brain that if we didn't live in a banana republic with an every other year Legislature, we wouldn't have the worst of national economic slowdowns (see 2010 after the Great Recession).

In Captain Obvious news analysis, the Texas Tribune notes that the bankrupt (morally as well as financially by legal definition) NRA's planned move to Texas will be more a legal than physical one. That said, there's no guarantee the Chapter 11 filing will be approved. And NY State AG Letitia James can appeal if it is. She also can probably seek to bounce some of this to federal court, and ask for that to be heard in the Southern District of New York.

Will last Tuesday be the last Confederate Heroes Day in Tex-ass?  A number of Dem Legiscritters say yes, but, we know how much the Texas Democratic Party continues to overpromise and underdeliver.

Speaking of, the Observer suggests they stop overpromising and instead celebrate what they've done the past few years and build on that.

Off the Kuff takes an early look at voting-related bills that have been filed in the Legislature.

Raise Your Hand Texas asserts there's enough money to fully fund public education.

Texana

Texas Monthly peddles a novella of placebo miracles about a eucalyptus tree that ain't an olive tree in South Texas.

The Monthly, in what must be a slow month, goes on to peddle bullshit about Sanderson being the new Marfa East or something. (No-follow settings on both links; no clickbait assistance from me!) I guess we need to talk about Texas-fried self-Californication or something? (I've been through Sanderson on a return home on one of my trips to Big Bend; it' AIN'T all that or even half of all that.)

North Texas

The protestors over Cooke County's Confederate statue have not given up on trying to get that removed. Sadly, and not for the first time, they're engaging in untruth when they claim Gainesville is the most racist small town in the former Confederate States of America. The fact that the city of Gainesville voted to remove its statue is one refutation. (You too get the "no-follow," Simone Carter.)

National

Racist cops and Army grunts? Say it ain't so. Well, Parler location data on smartphones DOES say it's so.

There is, if you will, a "deep state." It's the unelected, hired-not-nominated, federal bureaucracy, which includes branches such as the national security branch. Nicholas Grossmann notes that the QAnon nutters at the heart of the Capitol insurrection have kicked a deep state beehive. (That said, given racists among the Capitol Police and other things, I'm less certain than him of how dire the consequences may be.)

 

The Facebook-Google incestuous ad sales collusion has been publicly exposed. Thanks, a big thanks to whomever failed to redact Kenny Boy Paxton's legal filing.

Trump's flirtation with a Patriot Party will be a flop, if it even gets off the ground — which it likely won't, says this take.

Noah Horwitz minces no words in claiming treason on Jan. 6, and obviously doesn't know the constitutional meaning of the word "treason." Noah, make sure you learn better at law school if you ain't gradu-ma-wated yet. (I have so commented there; Noah, as do I, have a moderation hold. I don't really care if it posts or not, just that he sees it.)

Independent Political Report talks about the first two (of maybe three?) state Green parties being booted by the national organzation.

Steve Vladeck explains the Insurrection Act.

Rick Casey draws a parallel between Ken Paxton and Earl Warren.

Mean Green Cougar Red worries that things will get worse before they get better.

Texas Progressives look forward to Pres. Biden (well, not totally)

Trump continues to be a titty-baby, but contra The Resistance, there will be no actual coup.

Contra one increasingly erratic pundit, though, Trump's non-coup firings don't mean what they are claimed to mean.

As for the header? That comes from a blog post of yesterday. Go here.

As for the likes of the increasingly idiotic Glenn Greenwald claiming the firing of Esper and other things are to get us out of Afghanistan?

Well, this is a new teh Stupidz from Glenn Greenwald. Trumpy's been Prez 3 years, 10 months. Plenty of chances to end the war in Afghanistan. Hasn't. Firing Esper, etc. has nothing to do with that.
Hey .@ggreenwald do you get free crack on Substack? Can I have some of this? https://t.co/zXsiNtWtP3

— Your Glenn Greenwald pouty tomato face 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) November 13, 2020

And with that, off to the rest of this week's roundup.

Texas/national

Turns out there were a lot of ticket-splitters in South Texas, people either voting Trump then lower-level Dems or else Trump then undervoting. Gilberto Hinojosa, he of whom I started the #FireGilbertoHinojosa Twitter tag, should let lower level Texas Dems thank their lucky stars the suit to reinstate straight ticket voting failed. This in-depth analysis notes a lot of them were Hispanics worried about oil and gas jobs. "Defund the police" issues may have been another. That said, even within Texas' Mexican-Americans, the "Hispanic" vote isn't monolithic.

The Observer also weighs in, noting that in the Dem primary, Biden ran THIRD in many Valley counties, behind not only Bernie Sanders but also Michael Bloomberg. It notes that Biden/DNC got lazy during the national campaign, with lack of boots on the ground. Look, Biden wasn't going to win Texas anyway, but this points to a bigger issue — his seeing the campaign and probably the nation, as binary, as in Black and White, with little room for "Brown," whether Hispanic, South and East Asian, or American Indian.

Meanwhile, Capitol and Main falsely claimed that "Black voters saved America." This is wrong on MANY counts. First, I HATE the "GROUP X OF VOTERS saved America." It's simplistic at best. Second, as Biden's Black vote, along with his Hispanic vote, declined nationally as in Texas vs Clinton 2016, it's simply wrong. Third, David Sirota's latest landing ground risks going off my blogroll again with a simplistic duopoly-driven narrative that Joe Biden, vs Donald Trump, will "save America."

National

SocraticGadfly talks forthrightly about how COVID made Biden president and probably not much else.

DosCentavos reminds Dems that the election is over and that continued fighting with the "radical left" only damages the 2020 Biden coalition kept together by dollar store scotch tape.

Vox pulls a Libertarian twist on the old "Greens cost Dems the election, with the same stupid assumptions, in this case that Libertarians would have voted GOP if given a forced binary choice. At least Jane Coaston interviews actual Libertarians, contra MSM doing hit jobs on Greens in similar cases.

Texas

Scammin Ricky Scaman defeated for re-election as Falls County sheriff. I take personal pleasure in this one.

The four fired whistleblowers against Kenny Boy Paxton have sued him.

Off the Kuff has an early look at some election data.

Bill Kelly recalls a time when Republicans respected the will of the voters.  

Sri Kulkarni analyzes his defeat in CD22. 

Rick Casey finds reason for optimism.

Dallas

D Mag interviews some snooty neoliberal Californians (well, the wife actually went to Plano PLANO WEST!!!! for high school) who are now polluting the Metromess. 

Schutze talks to Drunkenville's Monte Anderson, still doing well in the development world.

World

Could vote suppression happen in other advanced democracies? The Guardian weighs in from the UK.

RIP, Robert Fisk. The best obit I've read so far comes from Patrick Cockburn.

Elections 2020 personal post-mortem

PROLOGUE: (And update.) In comments, Tiago asked me, per my graphic, what exactly I meant by a non-Marxist post-capitalism rather than anti-capitalism. 

I can now offer a specific example. I'm not saying I agree with it totally, nor am I saying it's the only post-capitalist option out there, but? "Doughnut economics," as described in this story, are one example, and an example with an explicitly environmental focus. Is it perfect? Of course not? Is it even going to wind up being the best option? As currently formulated, likely no. Is it a good starting point, despite bashing from non-wingnut conservatives to Branko Milanovich on the left? I say yes. Robert Hunziker has his take on doughnut economics at Counterpunch.

And with that, on to the original post.

FIRST MAIN POINT: As I said more briefly in the middle of a couple of blog posts elsewhere late last month?

I didn't vote. I've defended principled non-voting by others for years, and now I'll defend it in my own self.

So, WHY?

In part, semi-technical reasons. I need to renew a piece of plastic, and I hadn't transferred it from a previous address, and the powers that be that oversee such things said I couldn't transfer the address or renew it over the Interwebz, and COVID. I will get it taken care of, but I didn't before the election. But, it also offered me a backup excuse beyond the real reasons.

At the presidential level, it was a mix of national Green Party and Howie Hawkins factor. Both the party's Presidential Candidate Support Committee and Howie's own campaign treasurer, Travis Christal, the former despite MULTIPLE emails, never gave me the so-called "letter of interest" submitted on behalf of Jesse Ventura by who knows who. (I asked Travis as I had his email, and explained I had asked the PCSC multiple times by email and hadn't gotten the time of day. I DID get a "welcome to the Green Party PR type email the first time, which only cheesed me even more.)

And, exactly that is the problem.

I want to know who, given all the shenanigans, and what exactly it said. That's doubly true as we could have another round of this bullshit in 2024. Background on Jesse, the letter of interest, and his desire to have his not-rose-scented ass kissed is here.

Related? The Green Party Facebook group, which is an official Party organ, after all, censored more than one of my would-be posts there, and I was able to prove it. And, I'm not the only person to have had such complaints. (The group is moderated, and favoritism by moderators, beyond censorship, seems to be a problem.)

Third? Not doing anything about the Rhode Island GP for endorsing Biden but threatening to do something to the Georgia GP because of "trans activists." I'm not a GCRF, as I've said before. I'm a GSHF. That is, I'm a gender-skeptical humanist feminist. I don't have a problem calling out misbegotten SJW-ism when it happens, even if I don't agree with all GCRF claims. Somewhat more on that issue, as well as the "trans activist" issue in general, is here. More on how trans activists both inside and outside of the Green Party get a lot of issues of biology wrong is here. And, Howie was at least a "fellow traveler" on all of this.

Fourth? Something I explicitly blogged about, Hawkins, along with top campaign advisors Margaret Flowers and the late Kevin Zeese, drinking the Xi Jinping Kool-Aid. I have long voted Green precisely because of foreign policy as well as domestic policy issues. That said, the U.S. foreign policy establishment isn't always wrong, and it's not wrong by default. Twosiderism that abets concentration camps is simply unacceptable.

Fifth? Yeah, a certain amount of Rethuglicans and Democraps believed some of the coronavirus conspiracy theories, too, but they ran hot and heavy among Greens. Howie himself supported vaccinations, and didn't support any of the conspiracy theories, but? The party needs to be more explicitly pro-science on this (and other badly stereotypical "Green" issues) in the future. Per the graphic at right, I not only vote based on foreign policy issues, I vote based on broad insight issues.

I saw no reason to vote below that level. Greens had two statewide offices for which I could vote. BUT? Reading between the lines of Texas Supreme Court rulings, had either David Bruce Collins or Katja Gruene won, the TSC said that Secretary of State Ruth Hughs could retroactively charge the campaign finance fees. And, would surely make them due immediately. Had Hughs and staff not screwed the pooch on trying to charge GP candidates within the party, before nomination, Collins and Gruene would have been dead in the water legally.

As far as Dems? Hegar left me cold. I had no clue about my CD 13 Dem for Congress. I know a ConservaDem ran against Drew Springer for the state House. And, all county-level races were primary-decided.

SECOND MAIN POINT: OK, now, what did "we" get wrong in the general election?

It wasn't "shy Trump voters" skewing polls, but it was (in part) QAnon Trump voters. That said, I don't buy this as a total explanation. There weren't THAT many Black and Hispanic QAnoners. 

Nationally, Biden ran lower than Hillary Clinton among both Hispanics AND Blacks. Maybe, per Nikole Hannah Jones of the 1619 Project, it's past time to ditch "Hispanic," which is about as meaningful as "Asian" as an ethnic category. (For that matter, re "African American," where do you fit new or newish Nigerian immigrants who came to America freely vs the descendants of slaves?) More here from Margaret Sullivan, where that Twitter thread link was seen.

And, on Texas Hispanics, if it's that they're now voters, just more Trump voters than in the past? Maybe it's MORE than about damn time that Texas Democrats mayordomo Gilberto Hinojosa et al dump the "demographics is destiny" claims, as Mezzcans for Trump has put paid to the old "non-voting state Texas" claims. I've said for almost a decade that this is wrong on religious and other grounds. 

Meanwhile, ConservaDems in Congress are making new noise about moving that old Overton Window further right. That's even though, per Mondoweiss, "Squad" type new Congresscritters won most their races. 

THIRD MAIN POINT: Playing off the first main point, Democrats still don't "own my vote." As of now? Neither do Greens. They may, or may not, regain me, starting with the 2021 convention and what they do or don't do vis-a-vis Rogues Island, the Alaska GP nominating Jesse, and Georgia.

Otherwise? Per a "where are they now" piece in the Dallas Morning News about Metroplex area 1960s civil rights activists, with many of them saying they were civically active, but not politically active to the point of non-voting? I'm OK with staying that way myself.

The GP needs larger reforms to hold on to me. The SPUSA needs to move its nomination to 2024, not 2023, so that it can have a clearer idea of whether or not to have the potential Green nominee also be its candidate.

As for the party?

Per numbers from Great Lakes states in this National Review piece, Howie Hawkins 2020 finished well behind Jill Stein. Partly not his fault, I'm sure; likely that 2016 Greens had many "safe candidate" Berniecrats who went back to the Dem tribe this year. Hey, the Rhode Island Green Party even gave them an excuse. "Well, if GREENS are saying 'You have to vote Biden,' ..." you get the results pictured in the poll.

UPDATE, Nov. 20: Via Ballot-Access News, "others," as in the really minor candidates, outperformed Hawkins, who is listed at less than 400,000 votes. (As of late January, Wikipedia confirms that "others" did outperform him, with more than 600,000 votes. That's not totally new; if you lump McMullin with other "others," Stein lost by about 20 percent in 2016. She lost slightly in 2012.)

And, while the relatively small numbers on the poll on this blog make it anecdotal, it is an anecdotal confirmation.

Partially his fault? Probably. Partially internal GP things outside his control? Almost certainly.